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Why Is Yodle Health Calling Me?

Why Is Yodle Health Calling Me?

It appears that Yodle is heavily targeting mental health practitioners for new business. In addition to receiving the cold calls myself, I've received multiple reports from others who have received them as well. They typically start their pitch with, “I'm so and so from Yodle Health and we're wanting to find out if you're accepting new clients...” If you've not heard of Yodle before, this may provide the mistaken impression that they are another provider or program looking to refer clients to you. Yodle actually is an online marketing service aimed at increasing the local Internet presence of a business. In other words, their aim is to make your business come up more often in search engine searches, thus sending more potential clients your way.

Of course, the two sales representatives that have called me didn't approach it that way. In fact, the one was taken aback when I recognized what she was doing early on in the call. When I asked, “Hmm.. I've not heard of Yodel Health, do you have a web site?” her reply was, “uh.. well, we do, but it's not very clear what we do from that. But if you have 30 minutes, I can give you a full tour of what we do.” My number is in the national do not call registry, so I have little tolerance for cold sales calls, especially when they aren't up front about why they are calling. I said, “I see from your web site that you focus on local online marketing. I already have a strong Internet marketing plan in place so I'm not interested.” She again insisted that, if I were to give her 30 minutes she could show me how they could help me.

I ended it there, but I heard more and more from colleagues and consulting clients that they had received similar calls. Further, I received yet another voice mail from a different Yodle sales rep with the same pitch. I decided to look around to see what others have experienced with this company.

I quickly found a plethora of feedback and opinions on Yodle, both objective and not. Much of it supported my intuition and experience in this area. What I didn't find was any significant number of positive reviews of the service, especially not in the mental health field. It's my impression that “Yodle Health”, or at least its sales reps, don't have a solid understanding of our market. They especially don't appear to have a basic understanding of the budget of most private practices, or what Return on Investment (ROI) would be beneficial for us. Here are some links that might help you determine if Yodle is worthy of your consideration. Please note that I have no affiliation or experience with any of the authors of the following links or their associated comments:

A YouTube video explaining what Yodle is selling and why it may or may not be beneficial to you

One of many individual reviews you can find on the Internet that sound the same. Things weren't explained clearly up front. Charges ended up being much higher than expected. What was promised wasn't delivered. What's interesting about this review is that it is one of few where Yodle hasn't replied directly. One thing they do seem to do well is damage control.

This post even points out that someone they know met with some success in using Yodle, yet didn't continue the service. Once again, the comments are very telling.

As far as what you can do to increase your local Internet presence, much of what Yodle offers can be done on your own. The benefit of having someone else do it, however, is that it frees up your time and energy for other endeavors. My recommendation, should you employ a professional or service for help with this is to find someone with experience in our field and make sure the following is very clear up front:

The cost of the service

Exactly what you get for that cost

Whether there are any hidden, setup, ongoing, or other charges not covered above

Are there any guarantees? If not, what recourse do you have if you feel you didn't get what you paid for?

Want more detailed information on topics like Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Internet Marketing, Return on Investment, and local marketing? Book an affordable consult with us!

Comments

I received a call at home today from Andrew Detar at Yodle in the Mental Health Division who asked if I was taking on new clients. I have no idea how he found my home number as it is not referenced on my Psychology Today site. Thank you for the information you have provided as it saves me precious time.

Wish I'd read this sooner, I could have saved a colleague thousands of dollars! She contracted with Yodle a month or two ago. They were much more expensive than the other options she had considered, which might have led her to think that somehow they would deliver more. She is now very upset with the consultant she worked with, and how little they were doing to help her considering the exorbitant setup costs. It only confirmed my perception that the Yodle are essentially predators on technology-phobic private practitioners, offering little benefit to a lot of cost. Perhaps in time the cost equation will turn around, but I doubt it.

OMG! Wish I read this first!! I just called Monty back and left my and one of my colleague's number on it!! Damn! He got my number from a website I had through Therapy sites. It's been closed for awhile which should have raised a red flag for me! My friend has the PP (private practice) office and she's trying to get more business so I thought this was a good way to get it. Thanks!! I've already told her not to answer any unknown number calls.

Rob, your info about Yodle is very helpful. They cold called me too and are making promises that I am skeptical about. I really appreciate you saying that this type of optimazation can be done elsewhere. They make it sound like they are the best and will guarantee more clients. They do this huge sales pitch for over an hour and don't give you their costs till the end. I agree that they shouldn't be contacting us because i'm also on the do not call registry. I wonder if they could be reported.

You can report Do Not Call violations at this web site. Make sure if you do talk to a company that you specifically request that they place you on their internal do not call list as well. Once you've done this, if they continue to call, you may be able to get an attorney to take further action.

I just received a call from them as well. The guy insisted I get a counselor to call him back so that they could see which types of clients our counselors would like to see. I explained to him that we are a CHRISTIAN counseling center and that we accept anyone who wants to make an appointment, we don't screen our clients. He didn't know what to say after that except that I should have a counselor call him back so he could explain what their business was all about. I took his number and threw it right in the trash!

Your post was a great help. thank you. I just got called from John Courtney at Mental Health Division of Yodel. I have no idea how he found me through my agency. Your advice was terrific for when I do decide to get a web presence.

I am an office manager for a Psychiatrists and Social Worker, and I get calls from them constantly with a sense of urgency asking to speak directly with one of them. I handle these issues so when I question them, they are quick to say they need to speak with one of the providers directly. That being said, thank you for the heads up because now I know exactly how to handle them next time they call.

Thank you very much for posting this. I have been called twice from Yodle and each time they are "calling from the mental health division of Yodle." For the first call, it took me a few minutes to figure out what they were trying to pitch my way. Then after about five minutes of listening to the person speak circuitously, I realized they were basically selling search engine optimization. My husband is a software programmer and has already done SEO for my website. After I told the sales person this, he laughed and said goodbye. He was polite about ending our conversation. However, it was really annoying to have to try and decipher what services they were offering because he started off with that line "we are going to refer more clients to your business." What they really mean is "we can do SEO and/or build your website."

Well, they are still calling around! ;) The guy made it sound like he was an EAP company or somewhere looking for a place to refer their members. He called while I was on vacation with a voicemail that said I was out of the office, then tried two more times when I got back. I called, him back and I think he did not like what I was asking. He said, "Well you did take the time to call me, so obviously you are not turning people away from your practice and have availability." Jerk! I called because I thought he was a possible provider/referral type entity who might be a new contract in the area. I told him I do turn people away as I work full time and do my practice on the side. I am not interested in doing this full time and likely would still not need his help!

I just received a phone call from them today. Same pitch. Thanks for the FYI. I will not be returning their call. I believe they found my information on EMDRIA since the phone call was not through Psychology Today.

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